1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices that are used in angioplastic procedures, and more particularly, to those known as stents used when the lesions being treated are on or near bifurcated vessels.
2. Description of the Related Art
The treatment of lesions in or in the neighborhood of a bifurcated vessel through angioplastic procedures requires special considerations for the affixation of devices called stents. After dilatation occurs using a balloon, athrectomy, or laser, a stent is utilized to correct an abrupt closure in the area being treated, and to assist in the process of treating restenosis patients. To correct lesions in bifurcated vessels and to place the prosthesis in place is difficult, of great risk to the patient, and labor intensive for the physician. At present there are no prosthesis that covers and protects the crotch junction of the bifurcated vessels and surrounding areas. The present invention addresses this problem.
The possibility of collapse or blocking one of the two branches of a bifurcated vessel is always present. Therefore, it is desirable to use a method for delivering stents that maintains a guiding member on each one of the two branches, permitting a physician to react promptly in case of emergency (i.e. vessel collapse). With respect to the stents that have been used in the past, the characteristics of these devices include predetermined malleability to cooperate with an inflatable balloon to attach a stent to the inner surface of the vessels. The stents that have been designed in the past are not protective enough of the junction point for the two branches of a bifurcated vessel. One of these examples is U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,071 issued to MacGregor in 1991 for Bifurcating Stent Apparatus and Method wherein several substantially circular members are used to define the stent for bifurcated vessels. It can be seen that the junction point of the bifurcated vessel is left without protection.
The present invention provides for the cooperative and interconnected disposition of hyperbolic elements along a parabolic path that permit the contraction of the elements which can be readily expanded through an inflatable balloon such as those used in angioplastic procedures. This volumetrically efficient device effectively protects the junction area of bifurcated vessels. It resembles a horse saddle in its configuration.